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Probe inside Sandy Hook school could take months to complete Schools reopen in Newtown today; no word when Sandy Hook students will return to class BY MATTHEW O'ROURKE REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Frank Kulick walks past a display of wooden crosses and a Jewish Star of David representing the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on his front lawn in Newtown on Monday. David Goldman/AP

NEWTOWN -- Sandy Hook Elementary School will remain closed indefinitely while state police continue their investigation into Friday's shootings.

At a news conference Monday, state police said the school will remain in their control as a crime scene. It could be months before state and federal law enforcement officials finish their investigation inside the building.

Also on Monday, police confirmed there is a second survivor of the shootings who remains hospitalized. Neither of the wounded survivors has been identified, and police have not detailed their injuries.

All schools in Newtown, except Sandy Hook Elementary, will reopen today on a two-hour delayed schedule.

Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson said the delay will give teachers more time in the morning to prepare their classrooms.

School officials still have not determined when Sandy Hook Elementary students will return to class, although it could be as early as Wednesday.

The students will be bused to neighboring Monroe, which has offered its empty Chalk Hill School, located nine miles from the center of Sandy Hook.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Monday signed an executive order that will allow Newtown students to cross the border to attend class.

In a telephone call to parents, Robinson urged patience with buses that may run late today due to heavy traffic in town.

Lt. J. Paul Vance, state police spokesman, said both the school and home of Nancy Lanza -- the mother of shooter Adam Lanza -- will remain as crime scenes "indefinitely."

Police have said Adam Lanza used a .223-caliber rifle to shoot his mother four times while in her bed. He then drove about three miles in his mother's car to Sandy Hook Elementary, where he shot and killed 20 students and six staff members, including the principal.

"We've seized (the school and house) under search warrants, and we're going to hold those locations until we've completed our work and feel it's appropriate to let them go," Vance said at a news conference at Treadwell Park in Sandy Hook. "So as not to read anything into that, it is common practice to do that, to hold onto a crime scene, as long as it is needed for investigatory purposes."

Movers have begun taking furniture and supplies out of Sandy Hook Elementary under police supervision and moving them to the new school in Monroe.

Detectives continued Monday to canvass area gun shops and gun ranges to find information on whether Adam Lanza tried to obtain other firearms.

Police have said he shot his victims with a Bushmaster .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle, and later killed himself with a Glock 10-mm handgun.

Vance said state officials and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are searching other databases for any connection to Lanza.

Vance said police had yet to reach anyone who may have had contact with Lanza before the shooting.

They also have discounted reports that some people expressed "concerns" before Friday's shooting about Adam Lanza's mental health.

"There were no concerns before this tragic event," Vance said.

He said police have begun processing evidence from the two crime scenes, but he declined to say what may have been found.

He did say that forensic experts are searching computers and other electronics seized as part of the investigation.

"Every single facet of the weapons will be analyzed. Every single round of ammunition will be looked at and examined," Vance said. "I cannot detail the content of any evidence or what that evidence is."

Police are also beginning to interview additional witnesses -- including children.

"It is a very tender, tender issue," he said. "I can tell you any interviews done with any children will be done with professionals and with parents and investigators as appropriate ... we will handle that with extreme delicacy when the time arises."

He added that state police are investigating new threats as they come in.

One of those occurred Sunday, when police said they received two threatening calls targeting St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church on Church Hill Road.

The threat prompted a priest to evacuate the church's noon Mass. Yellow crime scene tape remained strung between trees near the church's entrances Monday.

Also on Monday, school officials in Ridgefield and Redding locked down schools after people reported seeing a suspicious person in the area of the Branchville train station area in Ridgefield.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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